# Fitting data representing the displacement of a cylinder with a normal load at the middle

I have the following data representing the normal displacement caused by load applied at the middle cross section of a cylinder, normal to the cylinder surface. Only the middle cross section cut is shown (which is what I need):

I've made the data available here.

I don't know exactly how would it the best fitting function for this, but I guess Mathematica has some functionality which would allow me to find a good fitting function, I just don't know which functionality would it be.

I would very much appreaciate any help!

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Ideally you would have a model from which you can predict the shape of the curve, possibly deriving an analytical expression. You could then use FindFit to fit the free parameters of your model function to your data. Also have a look at the tutorials tutorial/CurveFitting and tutorial/StatisticalModelAnalysis in the documentation for good examples of this. You are more likely to get good answers by showing code of what you already tried. –  Thies Heidecke Jun 7 at 14:50
@ThiesHeidecke Thank you very much! I will try something out and put the resulting agorithm to complement the question –  Saullo Castro Jun 7 at 14:57
I would consider changing the title of the post. What you are asking in the title is a physics question. What you are asking in the content is a mathematics question with a possible Mathematica implementation as far as I can see. –  Jonathan Shock Jun 7 at 16:30
the data looks like a fourier series (or the like) trying vainly to approximate a singulatity. The appropriate fit might be a simple A/x^n .. –  george2079 Jun 7 at 17:19
Actually try the form LegendreP[ n , Cos[t] ] –  george2079 Jun 7 at 18:04
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